Earlier this week, HTC has finally unveiled the HTC One mini 2, the latest addition to its renowned HTC One-family of Android smartphones and the successor of last year's HTC One mini. Running on Android 4.4.2KitKat with HTC Sense 6, the One mini 2 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core CPU at 1.2 GHz. It features a compact, yet generous 4.5" 720p HD display. Like the HTC One (M8) and unlike its forerunner, the HTC One mini 2 brings the iconic metal craftsmanship of the M8 to those in search of a "more compact model" - if you call a 4.5" display more compact. In terms of connectivity the One mini 2 is everything but mini by supporting quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, quadband UMTS/HSPA+ at 850/900/1900/2100 MHz and either quadband (EMEA) or pentaband (Asia) LTE CAT 4. Also onboard are Bluetooth 4.0 LE with aptX and WiFi a/b/g/n at 2.4 and 5 GHz as well as NFC, GPRS and GLONASS support.

Like the One (M8), the One mini 2 is also featuring a high-quality 5 megapixel front-facing camera with BSI sensor and support for 1080p Full HD video recording. However, the main-camera on the back is different from the HTC One and HTC One (M8) since it's not HTC's 4 megapixel "UltraPixel" camera but a straight 13 megapixel auto focus camera with BSI sensor and f/2.2 lens; also missing HTC's latest "DualCamera" innovation the company brought to the market with the One (M8) as well as the M8's dual LED flash.

Nevertheless, the One mini 2 wouldn't be a One-series device if HTC BoomSound would be missed and therefore it features HTC BoomSound technology, to deliver powerful, crisp and clear audio. The device is equipped with the same amplifier as the HTC One (M8) which delivers rich tones from bass through to treble, producing high-quality, immersive sound through the dual-frontal stereo speakers.

The One mini 2i isn't featuring the kind of a unibody housing as the One (M8) but its design is much closer to the current hero One than last year's One mini was to the One (m7). Both devices share the same aluminum back and the metal goes up to the side when polycarbonate takes over the material mix up to the front. On the right side, the One mini 2 features the HTC typical volume rocker on the microSD card slot. On the left, there's only the nano SIM card slot. On the top, HTC put the power button as well as the 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, and on the bottom is the micro USB port located. While the device also features a black bar bellow the display, it again holds the HTC logo only while the Android navigation buttons moved up as on-screen buttons.

The One mini 2 lacks the consumer infrared port, like last year's One mini lacked it, as well as the with the HTC One (M8) newly introduced motion sensor. Therefore the One mini 2 also lacks features like to turn on and unlock the screen with a simple double tap as well as FitBit functionalities.

The One (M8) has 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of flash memory which can be expanded with microSD memory cards up to 128 GB.

The new HTC One mini 2 measures 137.43 x 65.04 x 10.6 mm and weights 137 grams, including the 2100 mAh Li-polymer battery. This gives the device, according to HTC, a 3G talk time of up to 16.2 hours and a 3G standby-time of up to 556 hours.

From June 2014, the HTC One mini 2 will be available in EMEA and North Asia in Gunmetal Gray (pictured above), Glacial Silver and Amber Gold and will retail for around 449 Euro.